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Maricopa Recorder Sues County Board for ‘Unlawful’ Seizure of Election Powers

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The Board of Supervisors running Arizona’s largest county is illegally withholding key resources from the locality’s Republican elections chief that allow him to perform his lawfully mandated duties, a lawsuit filed Thursday claims.

Brought by Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, the legal complaint alleged that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (BOS) is refusing to “provide the necessary funds for the Recorder to conduct essential duties of his office unless he cedes much of his statutory authority to the BOS and permits the BOS to retain control over the systems and personnel required for the Recorder’s Office to fulfill the Recorder’s statutory functions.” As argued in the suit, “Arizona’s statutes are clear: the Legislature has delegated to the Recorder, and not to the Board of Supervisors, numerous responsibilities for election administration, and the Board of Supervisors has a mandatory duty to fund the Recorder’s conduct of his duties.”

Heap is represented by America First Legal in the matter.

The conflict between Heap and the Maricopa County Board can be traced back to before the former took office in January.

Months after his defeat in Arizona’s July 2024 primaries and weeks before Heap’s eventual victory in the November general election, then-Recorder Stephen Richer — a notable opponent of election integrity efforts — struck a deal with the Board on a new Shared Services Agreement (SSA). As The Federalist previously reported, this new contract effectively stripped key election administration responsibilities and resources from the recorder’s office and gave them to the Board of Supervisors. (Read more from “Maricopa Recorder Sues County Board for ‘Unlawful’ Seizure of Election Powers” HERE)

Maricopa Elections Chief Enlisted Foreign Censorship Group in War on Disapproved Speech

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Maricopa County Recorder Steven Richer turned to the left-leaning States United Democracy Center and an overseas group bankrolled by the State Department to help his office target election speech that’s disapproved of by the government, according to emails obtained by The Federalist.

Richer thanked States United for offering to let his office “piggy back” on the group’s anti-speech operations, which he described as “deep scanning” the internet for “disinformation,” a term often invoked to censor speech the government disagrees with. States United is a left-wing election law group that consistently opposes Republican election integrity legislation like voter ID laws and supports Democrat attempts to diminish election security, according to InfluenceWatch. The group has praised the weaponization of the justice system against Trump, and was described by The New York Times as part of a “coalition” preparing to “push back” against a potential Trump victory with “extraordinary pre-emptive actions.”

According to email records, States United set up a call with Richer’s staff and the global censorship group, Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). ISD is a London group that has been accused of wrongly labeling “mainstream views” as “misinformation” and subsequently censoring conservative opinions online, according to InfluenceWatch. The group was the recipient of a 2021 grant sponsored by the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which “fund[s] the development of censorship tools,” as The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland has reported. The ISD works with governments, leftist 501(c)(3) groups, and Big Tech companies as well as some of the left’s biggest financial backers.

Richer later suggested Arizona State University officials should fire Faculty Associate Aaron Ludwig for retweeting election concerns, apparently looping States United in on the process. . .

“Thanks very much to States United for the kind offer to let us piggy back on some of the deep scanning you’re contracting for election threats and disinformation,” Richer emailed then-States United Senior Counsel Bo Dul on June 17, 2022. Richer indicated his office and “some … partners at the county” do some of this work already, but that he would “love to fill any holes” with the offer from States United. (Read more from “Maricopa Elections Chief Enlisted Foreign Censorship Group in War on Disapproved Speech” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Lawsuit: Maricopa County’s Election Chief is Unlawfully Refusing to Undertake Proper Voter List Maintenance

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Maricopa County’s election chief is illegally refusing to undertake required voter list maintenance procedures to ensure foreign nationals aren’t voting in Arizona elections, a lawsuit filed Monday alleges.

Brought on behalf of the Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona and resident Yvonne Cahill, the legal challenge argues that GOP Recorder Stephen Richer is “ignor[ing]” his legally-required duties “to ensure that foreign citizens are removed from Maricopa County’s voter rolls.” Richer — a staunch opponent of election integrity efforts in Arizona — lost his reelection bid during Arizona’s primary elections last week.

“This lawsuit seeks to restore public trust in our State’s electoral system by holding Recorder Richer accountable for his failures and to ensure that the list maintenance required by the law and common sense — is performed,” the legal filing reads.

Plaintiffs are represented by America First Legal (AFL) and a law firm headed by former Arizona Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright.

The issue seemingly began last month when AFL sent letters to Arizona’s 15 county recorders demanding they fulfill their statutory obligation to verify the citizenship of the state’s Federal-Only voters. In Arizona, individuals who do not provide documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) when registering to vote are permitted to do so as “Federal-Only Voters” and cast ballots in federal elections. That allowance is due to a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Ariz., Inc. (Read more from “Lawsuit: Maricopa County’s Election Chief is Unlawfully Refusing to Undertake Proper Voter List Maintenance” HERE)

Dominion Voting Machines Reportedly Malfunction in Maricopa County Amid CrowdStrike outage

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Recent developments in Maricopa County, Arizona have reignited concerns over election integrity as Dominion voting machines reportedly malfunctioned county-wide due to a CrowdStrike outage. This incident has prompted critics to question longstanding assurances from officials that these machines are secure and never connected to the internet.

According to reports, numerous voting locations in Maricopa County are experiencing technical issues, allegedly linked to problems with e-poll books and print on demand printers, which experts suggest could be related to the CrowdStrike outage. Among those raising alarms is @ColonelReynolds, who has pointed out potential vulnerabilities that may compromise the integrity of election processes.

The outage has affected a significant number of voting locations, leaving only a handful operational. This disruption raises serious doubts about the integrity of these machines.

This incident highlights the susceptibility of voting machines to cyber attacks, despite assurances to the contrary. For years, officials have maintained that Dominion voting machines are isolated from internet connectivity to prevent interference. However, the current situation challenges these claims and calls into question the reliability of such assurances.

“If Maricopa County officials want us to trust their elections, they’re going to need to start being honest about just how easily these machines can be affected by cyber attacks,” remarked an X user.

Arizona Judge Approves Kari Lake’s Requests To Examine Midterm Ballots

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A judge in Maricopa County, Arizona, has approved Republican Kari Lake’s requests to inspect some ballots before the trial in her challenge to the Arizona gubernatorial race results.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson issued a ruling Thursday that approved three of Lake’s four demands for inspecting random ballots from the county

The three types of ballots Thompson approved Lake’s team to review included 50 random “ballot-on-demand” printed ballots that were cast on Election Day, 50 random early ballots cast from “six separate Maricopa County batches,” and 50 random ballot-on-demand printed ballots that were marked as spoiled. Lake’s request to inspect 50 random early ballots from ballot envelopes was denied due to state law, per the judge.

Thompson ordered Lake’s team had until Friday, “December 15, 2022,” an apparent error in the date, at noon MST to submit a ballot inspector, who will be able to inspect the ballots beginning at 8 a.m. MST on Tuesday, Dec. 20.

The judge also specified that the inspection must be conducted in a manner that “does not in any way interfere with any ongoing recount of the 2022 election results.”

(Read more from “Arizona Judge Approves Kari Lake’s Requests To Examine Midterm Ballots” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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Maricopa County Responds to AG’s Letter on Election Problems, Claim Not a Single Voter Disenfranchised

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Thomas Liddy, Maricopa County’s chief civil division attorney, responded Sunday to a letter from Arizona’s outgoing Attorney General Mark Brnovich ordering county officials to submit a report on its handling of the 2022 election.

Maricopa County, one of the most populous counties in the nation, had notable problems during the November 8 election, including printer and tabulation machine-related issues in at least 70 of the county’s 223 polling locations.

Liddy conceded in the letter that the county had issues on Election Day, but claimed not a single voter was disenfranchised, writing that “every lawful voter was still able to cast his or her ballot.”

“No voter was disenfranchised because of the difficulty the County experienced with some of its printers,” Liddy claimed. “Every voter was provided a ballot by which he or she could record their votes, and all such ballots cast by lawful voters were tabulated, whether in the vote center or at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center.”

(Read more from “Maricopa County Responds to AG’s Letter on Election Problems, Claim Not a Single Voter Disenfranchised” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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Ignore the MSM: Here’s What the 2020 Maricopa County Election Audit Actually Says

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A draft copy of the 2020 Maricopa County election audit has been leaked to KJZZ, a Phoenix-based radio station. . .

“The partisan review of Maricopa County’s 2.1 million ballots cast in the 2020 election found a vote count nearly identical to what the county had previously reported,” CNN reported. Like other liberal outlets, CNN focused on the results of the hand-recount part of the audit. As we know, hand recounts may account for slight discrepancies in counting but do not address irregularities or potentially illegally cast ballots. . .

“What has been found is both encouraging and alarming,” the report summary reads. “On the positive side there were no substantial differences between the hand count of the ballots provided and the official canvass results for the County.” . . .

[Here are some of the findings:]

None of the various systems related to elections had numbers that would balance and agree with each other. In some cases, these differences were significant.

There appears to be many ballots cast from individuals who had moved prior to the election.
Files were missing from the Election Management System (EMS) Server. . .

On the ballot side, batches were not always clearly delineated, duplicated ballots were missing the required serial numbers, originals were duplicated more than once, and the Auditors were never provided Chain‐of‐ Custody documentation for the ballots for the time‐period prior to the ballot’s movement into the Auditors’ care. This all increased the complexity and difficulty in properly auditing the results; and added ambiguity into the final conclusions.

(Read more from “Ignore the MSM: Here’s What the 2020 Maricopa County Election Audit Actually Says” HERE)

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Arizona Attorney General to Maricopa: Give up Election Information or Lose $700M

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In a major escalation in the fight over Arizona’s Maricopa County’s refusal to comply with a Senate election audit subpoena, the state attorney general’s office ordered the county to give in or lose its state funding, which provides nearly a third of the county’s budget.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said that the county, America’s fourth largest in population, is violating state law by not complying with the Senate’s request for routers in its 2020 election audit and review of former President Donald Trump’s loss.

In his ruling shared with Secrets, Brnovich said, “Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is in violation of state law for failing to comply with the Arizona Senate’s legislative subpoena related to the 2020 election audit. If MCBOS does not change course, the AGO will notify the Arizona Treasurer to withhold Maricopa County’s state-shared funds as required under the law.”

According to county and state estimates, the state provides about $700 million a year to the county, over a quarter of its $2.7 billion budget. (Read more from “Arizona Attorney General to Maricopa: Give up Election Information or Lose $700M” HERE)

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Maricopa Approves Financial Claim Against Arizona Senate for Cost of Voting Machines Subpoenaed for Audit

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Maricopa County approved a financial claim against the Arizona Senate for reimbursement of the nearly $3 million spent to replace election equipment that was decommissioned due to the Republican-led chamber’s 2020 election audit.

The county’s board of supervisors voted unanimously on Wednesday to serve Senate President Karen Fann a notice of the claim, which seeks $2,833,220 for the cost of replacing machines “rendered useless” by the audit.

County supervisors emphasized the county was not filing a lawsuit against the state Senate with the financial claim. Instead, they sought to hold Fann accountable to an agreement she signed in April to indemnify the county of audit costs.

However, supervisor Bill Gates said the claim demonstrates the county reserves the right to sue if it has to “work out the payment” for the decommissioned machines.

Fann expressed opposition to the claim, signaling the matter will make its way to court. (Read more from “Maricopa Approves Financial Claim Against Arizona Senate for Cost of Voting Machines Subpoenaed for Audit” HERE)

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Poll: Most Arizona Republicans Believe Audit Will Show Trump Won State

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A poll released by OH Insights on Monday shows that most Arizona Republicans believe the forensic election audit of Maricopa County being conducted by the Arizona State Senate will show that former President Donald Trump, not President Biden, won the state’s 2020 election.

The OH Insights Poll found that 61 percent of Republican registered voters surveyed agreed with the statement, “Evidence has been uncovered which shows that the election was stolen from President Trump in a number of states that the media and election officials have called for Joe Biden.”

In contrast, 24 percent of Independent registered voters surveyed in the state agreed with that statement, and only 15 percent of Democrat registered voters surveyed in the state agreed with it.

When asked later in the survey, “After the [Maricopa County] audit is completed, who do you believe will have received more votes in the 2020 presidential election, in Arizona?” 62 percent of Republicans answered Donald Trump, while only 21 percent answered Joe Biden, with 16 percent unsure.

Among Independents, only 25 percent answered Donald Trump, while 54 percent answered Joe Biden and 21 percent were unsure. (Read more from “Poll: Most Arizona Republicans Believe Audit Will Show Trump Won State” HERE)

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